


Family Values

by Azalea_Blue



Category: Carry On Series - Rainbow Rowell, Simon Snow & Related Fandoms
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Domestic Fluff, Fiona Pitch is a Badass, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Malcolm Grimm is trying his best, Marriage Proposal, Not Beta Read We Die like Simon’s Will to Live, OCs Only Exist for Exposition, Old Families (Simon Snow), Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Penelope Bunce & Simon Snow Friendship, Penelope Bunce & Tyrannus Basilton "Baz" Pitch Friendship, Penelope Bunce is a Good Friend, Post-Book 2: Wayward Son, Rescue Missions
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-24
Updated: 2021-02-16
Packaged: 2021-03-10 16:47:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,190
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28300371
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Azalea_Blue/pseuds/Azalea_Blue
Summary: Simon tried to ask Malcolm Grimm for Baz’s hand in marriage, as wanted to enter Baz’s family in a way that would honor their traditions. However, this choice has some unforeseen consequences, and Simon needs to find out how to save his damsel in distress.
Relationships: Dev/Niall (mentioned), Original Female Character/Original Male Character (mentioned), Penelope Bunce/Shepard (Mentioned), Tyrannus Basilton "Baz" Pitch/Simon Snow
Comments: 7
Kudos: 24





	1. Prologue: An Important Question

**Simon**

The last few years have been rough, but we managed to get through it. 

Most of it is thanks to Baz. He was able to convince everyone that we acted in self defense at the Renaissance Fair, and we managed to only get a slap on the wrist for it. Baz and Penny helped me work with a therapist, and she was able to show me things that I never understood. That really helped with my self esteem. Baz helped me get back into school so I could earn my degree. I ended up majoring in Sociology with a minor in Public Policy. I now work as a social worker, and I help those like me who didn’t get an escape from the care homes. 

I may not have magic, but my life is pretty full. Baz and Penny used to be afraid of using it around me because they were afraid that I would see what I could no longer have. Now, I’m better about it, and I just like seeing them use it around me. It helps keep it alive in me somehow. I still have my wings, but instead of always spelling them away Dr. Wellbelove made me a coin with a magnetic holder. One side I have my wings, and the other they go away. 

Baz and I were finally able to learn how to communicate. We work together on issues instead of ignoring them and hoping they go away. We’re both still stubborn, and we bicker all the time, but I can’t imagine our relationship without it. When I have a hard day at work, he always makes sure to cheer me up and cook me something amazing. Every morning he makes sure that my tea is always hot and other stuff like that. I’m still not a morning person, and he helps me get through mornings that I wish that I was dead. I make sure that he escapes from his studying to enjoy the world and see it’s beauty. I always know how to make him laugh when he’s stressed. We have nights we go out to eat and movie nights where we stay in. It’s all been very domestic, and I have loved every part of it. Baz has shown me that he chooses me, every day. I want to prove to him that I choose him too. I want to propose, and I want to do it on our anniversary.

That’s why I’m here. I’m outside Pitch Manor about to knock on the door. It’s months before our anniversary, but I want to make sure that I give Malcom as much warning as possible. I know Baz wouldn’t care whether or not I got his father’s permission, but I want to enter his family the right way. I have no idea what Malcom is going to do; he didn’t like me all that much to begin with. I hope that he’ll say yes. I hope that he’ll pick his son’s happiness over some stupid tradition. 

Everything has already been set up. This is the last thing I need to do. I have the date planned out. Dinner at his favorite post restaurant, walking through the streets of London at night, complete with a carriage ride through Hyde Park. I even have the ring picked out. Baz would want something like this: dramatic and over the top, just like the man I love. 

I knock at the door. I’m getting more nervous by the second. 

“Hello Mr. Snow, how may I help you today?” Vera says as she opens the door.

“Is Malcom available at the moment? I would like to speak to him.” I try to sound as formal as possible, but I’m so nervous I’m scared my voice will crack.

“He’s just in the study. I’ll take you to him.”

“Thank you Vera.” I walk in and follow her to wherever Malcolm is. I forget how huge this house is sometimes. 

“Mr. Grimm, you have a visitor.” Vera opens the door. He is sitting on a lounge chair reading some book I can’t see the title of.

“Bring them in.” He puts the book down, and I walk into the room. “Ah, Mage’s Heir, what brings you to Pitch Manor at this time. Is Basil with you?”

“No, Baz isn’t here. I actually just wanted to speak with you.” 

“Is everything alright? Where is Basil?” 

“Everything is fine, it’s been great actually. That’s why I came to talk to you today. Baz doesn’t know I’m here. I wanted to come, because I wanted to ask you for Baz’s hand in marriage.” I finally got it out. He looks surprised but not angry in the slightest. That was a shock.

“I’ll have to wait and see. I’m sorry but I cannot give you a straight answer right away.” I guess that was better than what I was expecting.

“Thank you sir, I hope to hear from you soon.” I know I sound somewhat annoyed, and I am. I somehow managed to maintain my composure as I was out. When I get to my car, I squeeze the stress ball my therapist told me to get so hard I fear it might break.


	2. Chapter 1: Losing My Strength

**_Three Weeks Later_ **

**Baz**

I have no idea why, but for the past few weeks I’ve been growing weaker. I don’t feel sick at all, but I don’t ever get sick. I don’t know whether or not I have some sort of illness that I just can’t fully feel due to my vampire immunity or if I’ve just been growing weaker due to something changing. Part of me thinks it’s because I’ve never fed on human’s blood. Lamb told me that I was essentially starving myself, but I’d rather die than turn into a killer.

Things keep getting worse. I’m tired all the time, I’ve even started falling asleep in class. I’ve never missed a class in my life, and now I’m just passing out in them all the time. It’s harder for me to get up in the mornings. I can’t even really work out to my full potential anymore. 

I’m afraid to tell Simon because I don’t know how he’ll react. He tends to look too far into things, and he’s been dealing with a lot from work recently (one of his kids got expelled for fighting), so I don’t want to concern him. He’s noticed, of course, and he’s tried to talk to me about it. I just change the subject. Either this will pass or it won’t. I can’t change much other than that.The last few months have been the best of my life, so at least I’ll be able to end my life in a good note. 

We’re going out to dinner tonight. It’s not super classy so I’m not all that dressed up, but I’m as presentable as I can be in this state. Simon’s waiting for me in the living room.

“Ready?” My voice sounds less steady than I wanted it to be. 

“Yeah... Love is everything alright?” He sounds really concerned. 

“Everything’s fine Snow. Let’s go, I’m starving.” I really am, but I’m more trying to change the subject.

“Are you sure? You don’t look too hot. Did you feed recently?” He has his hand on my forehead. He’s not going to find a fever.

“Yes. I just fed yesterday.” I walk toward the door, but I’m immediately hit with a dizzy spell. Simon notices this and he rushes to my side.

“We can go some other time. Why don’t you get some rest.” He has his hand around my waist and is trying to point me toward the bedroom. I try to walk away but I just get more dizzy. I’m growing more lightheaded by the second it feels.

“I’m fine, Snow. Let’s just… let’s…” My vision goes black around the edges. My knees buckle and I fall to the floor. Simon catches me. His strong arms wrap around me and gracefully pull me to the floor. It makes me think that all the CrossFit he’s been doing is really working it’s wonders.

I always knew I’d die in Simon Snow’s arms. I’m just happy that I got to live out the part where we could be together. I’m glad I got to enjoy it for more than a moment.

**Simon**

I catch him in my arms. He’s sprawled across my lap on the floor. He’s going to get up any second. He just tripped. Right? He isn’t getting up. 

“Baz, love, what’s wrong?” 

“I’ve been growing weaker. I think it has to do with the fact that I’ve never fed on human blood. I don’t… I feel like I’ve lost a lot of blood. I’ve been needing to… needing to.” His eyes start to flutter closed. His voice is growing weaker.

“Stay awake. If there’s anything I know about blood loss, it’s that you need to stay awake or you might not wake up.” This  _ cannot _ be happening. I knew something was wrong, but I never pushed it. I can’t believe that I’d been this dense. I  _ can’t  _ lose him. Not like this. Please, please don’t take him now. I don’t know how I could live without him.

I pick him up and lower him onto the couch. He looks barely conscious. His eyes are almost closed, but I can tell he’s still fighting. 

“Come on Baz, please stay with me. Everything’s going to be okay. Just stay awake.” I start to walk toward my phone. I need to call someone. I need to get him help.

“Simon.” His voice is no more than a whisper, I can’t help but wince at how weak he sounds. “Please, just hold me.” I rush to his side and take him in my arms. I look down into his eyes.

“Please just stay. Just keep fighting, please.” I’m pleading. At this point I don’t even know who I’m pleading to. I just need him to stay.

“Simon.” He sounds slightly stronger. He must be getting better. I take his face in my hand. “I want you to know.. that these last few months.. they’ve been the best of my life.” He needs to keep talking. He needs to stay awake.

“Please don’t talk like that. You’re going to be okay.” I’m sobbing now. I can’t help it. I can’t lose him. 

“I love you Simon Snow. I always have.” He’s crying now too. It’s like he’s accepted his fate. I can’t let him go. He tries to grab my hand, but even that movement is too much for him. I take his hand in both of mine.

“I love you too. More than you’ll even know. So please just stay.” Tears are streaming down now. I can barely see anymore. This can’t be goodbye. Please don’t let this be goodbye. 

“Just promise me.” He somehow manages to sound weaker than before. His breathing sounds labored. “Just… to keep living”

“Please don’t talk like that. Please, just stay awake. Please.” I’m squeezing his hand so tight it must hurt. I just can’t let him go.

“I’m sorry… I love you.” He lets out a final sigh and his eyes flutter shut. His head lolls to the side. His hand falls onto his chest. I grab it again.

“Baz, Baz, BAZ. Wake up. Please wake up. Please don’t leave me!” I’m shaking him. He’s not responding. I want to check his pulse. I want to call for help. I’m too afraid to let go of his hand. 

I stay like that for a minute or so. I’m just sobbing and holding onto his hand. He’s unconscious, but he looks like he’s just asleep. I wish that I could let myself believe that. 

I manage to pry myself away from Baz for long enough to grab my phone. I rush back to him and hold his hand as tight as I can. I need to make sure that he’s still here. I call Penny because she should know about this. She picks up after three rings.

“What do you want Simon? I’m at dinner with Shepard.” She sounds annoyed. I didn’t know it was date night for them.

“Penny please, it’s Baz” I sound more panicked than I thought I would. At this point it’s understandable.

“Oh Simon, I’m so sorry. Did he say no?” She sounds sad and a little surprised.

“How did you-“ I never told her I was going to propose. I tried to be as careful as possible.

“Please Simon, you can’t keep secrets from me. You didn’t answer my question.” 

“That’s not it. He had been growing slightly weaker for the last few weeks. We were going to go out tonight. He collapsed and he hasn’t woken up. Please Penny I don’t know what I should do.” I’m crying again. I can’t help it.

“Simon calm down. Everything is going to be okay.” She tries to soothe me, but it’s not helping.

“Penny this is all my fault. I should have known something was wrong. I’ve just been so busy trying to help Daniel that I lost track of everything. I should have been there.” I’m crying even harder now. I don’t know if Penny can even understand me.

“Simon, Simon please. This isn’t your fault. We both know how stubborn Baz is. He wouldn’t have told you anything or gotten help no matter how hard you pushed it.” I don’t think she’s right. He sounded scared of what was happening. I wish I had said something earlier. 

“I don’t-“ Penny shushes me before I can finish.

“I’ll be over as soon as I can. Try calling Fiona. She knows Baz better than anyone else.” She’s right.

“Thank you Penny. You’re right, as always.” I let out a slight chuckle. I almost forget about the situation at hand. 

Penny hangs up the phone. I take the time to watch Baz for a little longer. I try shaking him again, calling his name frantically. He’s still completely out, but he isn’t getting worse. His breathing is slow and steady. He just looks peacefully asleep. 

I grab Baz’s phone and call Fiona.

“Boyo what do you need? Weren’t you supposed to be having date night.” She picks up with her normal indifferent tone. 

“Fiona, it’s me. Something bad happened to Baz and I… I don’t know what to do.” I start to ramble. 

“What happened?” She interrupts me.

“He.. he just collapsed. He said that he had been growing weaker. I tried.. I tried to keep him awake but he’s closed his eyes and he isn’t responding…” I’m talking way too quickly. I don’t even know if she can understand me at this point. “Please Fiona. I can’t lose him.” I’m really crying now. I don’t know if she heard any of what I just said. 

“I’ll be over as soon as I can. In the meantime, move him to the bed and try to keep him warm.” She hangs up the phone.

I do as Fiona says. I bridal carry him to the bedroom and place him gently on the bed. He’s not as cold as he normally is, but he isn’t necessarily warm. He just looks like he’s sleeping. It’s been a more common sight to me recently as I no longer wake him up when getting ready. I used to enjoy watching him like that; he always looked perfectly peaceful and pretty when asleep. I can’t enjoy it now, not when he isn’t waking up.

I try to make him as comfortable as possible. I don’t want for him to wake up and be in pain. I pull the blanket over him. I’m still holding his hand and watching his chest rise and fall. He may just look like he’s sleeping, but there’s still a possibility that he’ll slip away any moment. That thought terrifies me. He practically saved me from myself. He still does. He makes me feel like I mean something, and it’s one of the main reasons I keep going. He’s always there for me. I wanted so much to tell him how much he means to me, but now I might never get the chance. I’m tempted to put the ring on his finger now, so that I can show him before he slips away. I thought we’d have so much more time. I always thought he’d outlive me; that he’d spend eternity as a super smart incredibly fit vampire. I never imagined that I would outlive him. The thought never crossed my mind. It was something I left in the back of my mind to never think about. My therapist says it’s unhealthy, but this was something that I thought I would never need to deal with. Now it can’t leave my mind. Now that I’m holding his hand as tight as I can, watching his chest rise and fall with every breath, praying every god I suddenly believe in that it won’t be his last.

My train of thought is interrupted by Penny unlocking the door to the flat and barging in.

“Simon, where are you?”

“I’m in the bedroom Penny.” My voice sounds more broken than I want it to, and I hear her running in. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay, plot time! I have the next few chapters written, so it probably won’t be long until stuff starts to make sense. Tell me your theories in the comments below, what caused Baz to just collapse like that? Hope you enjoyed, and have a beautiful day!


	3. Chapter 2: Starting to Unravel

**Penny**

I’ve never seen Simon this wrecked. Not after Agatha broke up with him for the first time, not when the mage died, not when he realized that he would never have magic again, nothing compares to this. He barely looks at me; he just watches Baz breathe. He looks like he’s been crying for hours. 

“I’m going to need to cast a few spells on him to see what’s wrong. Can you step away for a few seconds?” 

“Okay… okay.” He stares at Baz’s face for a few seconds and then let’s go of his hand. He’s still right next to him though. I don’t think I’ll be able to get him to move any further away.

“ **Time for a check-up** ” This should be able to reveal whatever caused him to faint. All I can see is something connected to his magic. It doesn’t make any sense. Whatever it is is attacking his magic directly. His magic then overcompensates trying to fight it, weakening him in the process. At this point it seems steady, just keeping him asleep.

“What is it? Is he going to be okay?” Simon sounds so desperate. I’ve never heard anything close to this. 

“I don’t… I don’t know.” That’s all it takes for Simon to break.

“No.. no.. it can’t.. he can’t!” He was barely able to get that last part out before he breaks down. He’s holding Baz’s hands tighter than I thought possible. His eyes have turned red because of how much he’s crying. “Is there anything we can do? There has to be something with magic?” He says the last part as more of a question. No doubt in my mind that if he still had magic he would go off.

“Simon, why don’t we try to calm down a little.” I try to get him to relax, but it clearly isn’t working.

“Calm down? You think I should calm down? How can I calm down when the love of my life is unconscious and I don’t know if he’ll ever wake up? How in the seven hells do you think that’s possible.” He sounds really angry, but I know that he’s just scared.

“Come on Simon, this worrying isn’t going to help Baz is it?” He takes a deep breath at that. 

“You’re right, you’re right.” He sits up and looks at me.

“Why don’t I get you a cup of tea and we can try to work this out?” He nods his head. 

I make him and myself cups of tea. When we finally sit down and start talking about how to wake him up. Fiona knocks on the door.

“Oh my poor baby.” She runs to Baz’s side. She looks at him with sadness. and a hint of... regret? That seems somewhat strange.

“What do we know?” She asks looking directly at me.

“Not much, all we know is that whatever this is is attacking his magic and weakening him that way.” A look of realization comes over her face.

“I knew I should have pushed it. Malcolm said it was impossible!” She mainly mumbles to herself, but it was clearly meant for others to hear.

“What does that mean? Will he be okay?” Simon looks up, and I notice that he’s holding Baz’s hand again.

“There’s a blood curse, on his father’s side, it was cast in order to prevent any Grimm’s from becoming anything other than pure mages.” That’s strange. It doesn’t surprise me that there would be some sort of curse like it, but if it is the case, why hasn’t it taken effect already. If Simon is to believed, it only started a week ago. 

“Is there any way to fix it? It’s not like he took it willingly. He also just feeds on animal blood that I get from the butcher. He’s still alive, and he’s still human. There has to be some way to reverse it. Please tell me there is.” Simon whispers the last part. I put a hand on his back reassuringly. That’s the most important question, so I’ll save everything else for later. 

“I’m pretty sure Malcolm knows something about it. Would one of you help me get him to the car without jostling him too much. We need to take him to the manor.”

“Why can’t Mr. Grimm just come here? Moving him doesn’t sound like a great idea.” Simon nods to show he agrees with me. Fiona just sighs. 

“There will be more resources at the manor. I also would like to be alone when I’m there. I’m sorry Snow, but I don’t think Malcolm will be too keen with his son showing up unconscious with the Mage’s heir in tow.” She’s not wrong, it’s just unfortunate. I want to argue with her about it a little more, but Simon starts speaking first. 

“I understand. Please, just get him help.” Simon sounds like his heart has already been torn in two. I can’t see him like this. Fiona looks at me.

“Bunce can you help me with some spells to make sure that we can get him to my car safely?”

“Of course.” I say without a second thought. 

**Simon**

I watched as Penny and Fiona carefully took my boyfriend down to Fiona’s car. He stayed completely motionless through all of it, not a flutter in his eyelids or a twitch in any of his muscles. I know now what caused this, so I have hope that we’ll find a way to reverse it. I have to let myself believe that there is a way to wake him up. There has to be. Right?

“Simon, why don’t you come to the kitchen and I can make you some more tea okay?” Penny says before I can even realize that I’m starting to have a panic attack.

“Yeah. Yeah sure.” I get up and follow her to the kitchen.

“On a lighter note, tell me about the proposal plan. Sitting around worrying isn’t going to help him, now is it?” 

“I might as well tell you so you can fix it. I tried to be as secretive as possible about it. I didn’t want anyone to know because if someone else did it was likely that he would find out too. He was always smarter than me in that way.” Penny puts her hand on my arm.

“You can’t hide things from me Simon. Good to know I’ve been able to best Baz on this.” She seems almost proud of herself with that. I let out a small chuckle.

“I planned to propose on our anniversary. I spent so long trying to make everything perfect. I looked everywhere for the perfect ring. I’ve kept it on me ever since then. To prove to myself that it was real.” I don’t tell her about what happened with Mr. Grimm. I think that it would just make everything worse.

“When did you realize that you wanted to propose?” I think the answer should be obvious at this point.

“We were on the couch watching La La Land. I had picked The Dark Knight our last movie night so it was his turn to pick. He made some stupid joke about why couples in movies always have to go through way to much before they can get together. He managed to say it with much fancier words and much more snark, but the message was still the same. I realized then that our relationship could be some romantic movie with everything that we went through together, and with everything that we did to end up where we are.”

“That makes a lot of sense. I always hoped that’s how it would end for you two.” 

“I realized that he was my happy ending. When we just got back from America, he had showed me that he will always choose me. I wanted to show him that I will always choose him too. I don’t even know if I’ll get the opportunity now. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to tell him how much he means to me.” I start to cry again. I can’t really help it.

“Hey, you really think that Basilton Pitch would stay with someone that he didn’t think loved him to the moon and back?” She makes a good point. 

“No, he’s way too proud for that.” 

“Besides, you will get a chance to show him. He’s going to recover from this. He’s too stubborn to let something like this take him down.” I’m still crying.

“I wasted so much time. I thought that he’d be better off without me, but he showed me that it wasn’t like that at all. I finally manage to figure everything out. We finally manage to have the lives we always wanted. Now this. Now I don’t know if I’ll get to have it again.” I can’t think about that, but I still am. 

“Hey, he’s going to pull through. I promise you that. Let’s just finish your tea and then we can go to the library.” Penny tries to interrupt me, but I keep going.

“Baz was always much more eloquent with these sort of love declarations. He showed me how to keep living. He kept me going. He still does. He’s still the light I need to see through everything. Please, I can’t lose him. I can’t lose. Please, I can’t let him go.” I don’t think I’ve ever been this scared before. I don’t think anything’s ever come close. I managed to get my happy ending, but now it’s being stripped away from me right before my eyes. Images flash in my head. Gently placing roses into his coffin. Watching them lower him to the ground. A gravestone with a much too early death date. Putting flowers down on his grave on our anniversary rather than hearing him complain about the fact that I never manage to get the ones that he actually thinks are arranged well to his taste. Laying in bed alone trying to desperately hold on to anything that’s left behind. Leaning onto a cold gravestone on his birthday trying to pretend it’s him cooling me down. Seeing my hair graying in the reflection of the gravestone that’s the same color of his eyes. Never being able to see him again. Never being able to talk to him. Never being able to  _ hold  _ him again. Trying to push through every day of my life without the spark that kept my fire alive. 

“Simon, Simon. Look at me.” I finally look up to meet her eyes. “He’s going to be fine. He’ll pull through, I know he will. Just breathe with me okay? All of this worrying isn’t going to help Basil now is it?” She’s right. I need to get my act together to save him. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed! Just a little more on the mystery this time. Does Fiona know something she’s not letting on? I’d love to see you’re theories in the comments and maybe give some hints on what’s really going on! Thanks for reading and have a beautiful day!


	4. A Disappearing Act

**Penny**

This is it. Baz has to recover. I love the git to pieces, but if he doesn’t wake up I will personally cross through the veil to kick his ass. 

I was so happy when the two of us finally got closer. I finally have someone who matches my interest in magic and the academics behind it. Shepard tries, but he doesn’t have the ability to understand it as deeply as Baz and I do. It would hurt me deeply if we lost him, but it would hurt Simon even more.

Things were finally working out for the two of them. I finally saw the two of them happy. They’re perfect for each other. I’m honestly surprised it took me this long to figure it out. It should have been obvious at Watford. At least now they both know. I’ve never seen two people care about each other as deeply as they do. I care about Shepard a lot, but I don’t even think it comes close. He and Simon managed to work through what they had and work together. Those two had been through every possible challenge and yet they still came out of it together. They were a team, they still really are. Simon always seemed happier when Baz was around and the same goes for Baz. I can’t imagine what Simon would do if we lost him.

I need to get to the matter at hand. I drag Simon into the library in order to look into whatever this blood curse might be. He somehow managed to get an exact copy of the Pitch library into their flat. How he did it I have no idea, but it has certainly been super helpful. It’s really Baz’s and my library rather than Baz’s and Simon’s, so I know where to look more than Simon.

“Is there a section on the Old Families? There just seems like there should be.” Simon is searching for something that could be useful, but he clearly has no idea what to look for.

“ **Fine tooth comb Grimm Blood Curse.** ” I cast the spell, and a book that I’ve never seen before open’s in front of me. It’s a book about the Grimm family. It’s clearly been written by a historian rather than by the Grimm family itself. It opens to a chapter about Emilia Grimm, someone who I’ve never heard of before.

“That’s probably the best idea.” Simon says while walking toward me. I start reading the page aloud for Simon.

“ _ Emilia Evans (née. Grimm) is the only Grimm to have ever been under the blood curse that is known. The Grimm Family Blood Curse was created by Edward Grimm. He used it on himself to ensure that the Grimm Bloodline would never be made impure _ .”

“That sounds like a bunch of elitist crap if I’ve ever heard it. Who the hell says they fear their bloodline could become impure.” Simon interrupts me. He is rightfully pissed off.

“ _ How exactly the curse manifests or how it comes to fruition is unknown. _ ” I continue. Simon clearly starts to worry about the fact that this book doesn’t have anything. I keep talking. “ _ However, Emilia can give an idea into exactly what it is. Joshua Grimm feared that Emelia, one of his three daughters, was falling in love with a siren. He casted a spell to activate the curse in a way that would keep her into an indefinite slumber in order to prevent her from ever having children with said siren. He waited until the siren became disinterested with his daughter to wake her up. She ended up marrying another mage, Noah Evans, with whom she had two daughters and three sons. _ ” The story then goes on to speak of Joshua’s sons. There isn’t much because this apparently happened in the fifteenth century. Something doesn’t seem right about it. There’s something missing.

“Is there anything else on the curse? This can’t be the only one.”

“If there is one we don't have access to it at the moment. It’s strange that there is only one book that mentions the curse at all, it would seem like an event that would be well documented. Maybe Joshua didn’t want others to know about what he did to his daughter to show her how to live?” This sounds like the best answer. The Old Families are quite concerned with their reputation.

“Why would Mr. Grimm want to hurt Baz? I know that they weren’t super close, but I never thought he could do something like this. If it’s the other way and he’s doing it to protect him, why wouldn’t he have done this sooner? It’s not like we would be able to have kids, and even so I am still a mage. That’s how I was born at least” I have to agree with Simon on this. Why would he want to do this?

“I don’t know. Let’s keep looking. There must be something else on Emelia. Seeing that I doubt that anything connecting Joshua to this would be difficult to find.”

“ **Fine tooth comb Emelia Grimm** ” a book shoots out from the wall and opens to a page right in the middle. Another one soon follows. I start to read the first one. “ _ Emelia Grimm was born to Joshua Grimm and Elizabeth Grimm (née Davidson) on July 10th of 1538.  _ Something something siblings. Watford records. Quick mention of Noah Evans and their children, but nothing of the curse, and nothing of the siren. Nothing on Joshua Grimm about the curse either.” 

“Let’s look at the next one.” Simon brings the other book to me. This one was clearly written by the Grimm family themselves, with all the different types of handwriting. It appears to be written by parents about their children. A way to document how they grow and mature. I flip to the page about Emelia in her later years; it was clearly written by her mother.

“ _ Emelia has grown into a wonderful woman. She has matured and grown into someone that I know I can be proud of. Unfortunately, she has fallen in love. She will soon be taken from me. I’m afraid this will soon be my last entry for her. I love her deeply, but her father and I cannot allow her to make this choice. She is _ ...” The page ends there. The next one appears to have been ripped out. “This doesn’t make any sense. Why is the page missing?”

“What do you mean?” Simon looks closer.

“Look. The paragraph about Emelia ended there, then the next page is gone. Like someone purposely ripped it out. The one after doesn’t mention her at all. It’s just about her brother.”

“Maybe it was a mistake? The book looks pretty old.” Simon suggests, but he doesn’t even appear to be completely buying into it. There’s something missing.

“This seems purposeful; it’s not like the Grimm’s to let something important like this be torn apart. It’s strange though. All of the other books speak of her getting married to another mage, but this book doesn’t mention her again.”

“Is there anything else we can try? Maybe see if there’s something either Joshua or Emelia wrote?” 

“Baz once told me that there are some copies of old family journals that he has in your bedroom. He was always interested in his ancestors and what they could have had in common with him. Maybe we could try and find if either Joshua or Emilia has a journal.” Simon nods and we head toward the bedroom. 

“ **Fine tooth comb Joshua Grimm** ” A book flies out at me. It’s clearly a journal. 

“If he has the fathers maybe he has Emilia’s too. Can we check?” I look at the area where the book was as Simon starts to flip through the journal. They seemed to be organized by date. Emilia’s is nowhere to be found, if she even kept one. 

“I don’t think she had one. Let’s just look into Joshua’s and see what he said about it.” I flip through the book trying to find something about either how he enacted the curse or why he was trying hard to prevent her from marrying the siren. 

“Found it!” I keep reading. He speaks of the disappointment of her falling in love with the siren, and then of the curse.

“ _ My dearest Emelia has fallen in love with a monster. She was never the brightest of our line, but I never expected her to fall under the thrall of a creature. I’m doing this to help her. A monster can never love nor be loved properly by any real mage _ .”

“Well that’s bullshit. Is this what Mr. Grimm was trying to accomplish? Prove that no one can properly love his son?” It doesn’t make sense to me at all how this happened. It’s very clear that it was activated, but Fiona seemed certain that it was just something that happened because of the fact he isn’t a pure mage.

“I’ll keep going.  _ She shall learn the hard way the truths of our world. That a creature that she’s in love with will never love her the way that she should be. _ ” He just sounds like an overprotective father in my opinion with a large dash of racism. It almost reminds me of the arguments that were made against inter-racial relationships in the sixties. “That’s the end of this entry. I’ll keep looking.”

“You keep looking for Emelia’s diary. I’ll flip through this one. Maybe try seeing if Noah Evans had one? Was that entry dated? See if maybe one of them had one at a corresponding date.” I’ve never heard Simon this interested in anything having to do with research; I’ve never heard Simon have any real ideas on how to conduct it for that matter. I suppose he can now that he has good reason to.

“Great idea.” I hand the book to Simon and start looking for Noah Evans’s diary. I’m partway through when Simon interrupts me.

“Look, it’s the same thing again. There are clearly pages ripped out. Someone wanted to hide what happened. He also never talks about Emelia again. It’s like they wanted to get rid of her name being related to the family.” 

“If she just ended up marrying another mage, why would they want to erase her name? Something is clearly missing.” Just as I say that something catches my eye. Hidden behind other journals is a very old looking envelope filled to the brim with what appears to be letters.   


**Simon**

I’m looking through Joshua’s diary for anything else on Emelia or Noah when Penny interrupts me.

“Simon, why don’t you take a look at this.” I fold the corner of the page I was on and set the book down. 

“What is it?”

“Letters. Letters that look like someone desperately wanted to hide.” She starts to carefully open the envelope.

“Do you think that it has something to do with Emelia? There are a lot of Grimm family secrets.” I don’t know why she thought that it had to be something about Emelia, but I really hope she’s right.

“It’s just a gut feeling. Let’s see what they say. This one appears to be the first.” She takes out a letter and hands it to me. I start reading it.

“ _ My dearest, Emelia. _ ” So she was right. “ _ Ever since the cotillion I have not been able to keep you out of my thoughts. You have captivated me in ways I never thought possible. Thoughts of you have filled my waking hours. I never thought that it would be possible to be as beautiful as you. I hope to hear from you soon. All my love, Noah.  _ So her parents just married her off to a man that fell in love with her at a ball.” It makes sense. Mr. Grimm was always trying to marry Baz off to Agatha. 

“I don’t think so. I’ll read the next one.  _ My dearest Noah. I could not be more glad to see that you had written me. Your intelligent eyes and your childlike smile have filled my dreams and soul. I want to know everything about you. I want to show you who I am. All my love, Emelia.”  _

“Do you think her father wrote that? If she was in love with someone else, why would she have been able to fall for another man so easily?” It doesn’t make any sense at all. 

“This is clearly her handwriting. It looks nothing like what I saw in the journal. Why don’t we take out all of them and see if we can find dates that match up with what we saw in the journal.” As soon as Penny says that, she takes all of the letters out of the envelope and spreads them out on a desk. One of them catches my eye. It’s a different type of paper than the rest of them. I start to read it aloud.

“ _ May these letters give a glimpse of our love that will be lost in time. I know the decisions that I have made will forever erase my story from any history books. I love my husband, and I do not regret my choice to run away. I hope that future Grimms can hear of my story and learn to make the same choice. To anyone who finds this: love who you love, and don’t let your family get in the way of it. Love, Emelia Evans.”  _

_ “ _ So that’s why we couldn’t find anything on Emelia. Everything about her was torn from the books so that no one would find out. What doesn’t make sense is the fact that Noah was a mage, so why would they have gone to such great lengths to prevent anyone from knowing about her.” Penny has a good point, but I know she’s missing a part of the story. 

“I have no idea, but I have a feeling that something else is going on here. These letters are dated before the journal entry about her father activating the curse, so I think that Noah Evans was the siren that she fell in love with.” Penny looks shocked.

“That makes so much sense. I didn’t know that you had it in you Si.” She punches my shoulder lightly. 

“I was always good with research when it came to figuring out something about Baz. Even if I didn’t know why I was so determined at the time.” Everything hits me at once. I had been so distracted that I had almost forgotten about the issue at hand. We have yet to hear from Fiona, and I don’t know whether it’s a good or a bad thing. 

“You know what we should do, we should call Dev. He’s seen Baz a bunch of times in the past few weeks, so he probably noticed something. He’s also a Grimm so he might know something about Emilia.” 

“Great idea, Si! I’ll call him on Baz’s number. So that way he’ll pick up.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m going to be honest, I kinda forgot that this exists. I have a lot more of it actually written, but I’ve been working on school projects and stuff so it kinda just went to the back of my mind. As always, I hope you enjoyed reading! Comments and kudos are always appreciated, and have a beautiful day!

**Author's Note:**

> This has been in my head for a while, and I finally decided to write it down. This is a wild ride, and it’s only the beginning, so stay tuned!


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